Aston Villa in talks to sign Luiz Junior as eventual Emi Martinez exit mooted at Villa Park
Aston Villa have an eye on putting “pressure” on Emi Martinez in the future amid reports they have started transfer talks over the signing of a new goalkeeper, Alan Hutton has said.
Portuguese outlet Mais Futebol reported that Villa have begun talks over a deal to sign Brazilian stopper Luiz Junior in a deal that could eventually be worth £10.1million.
Still only 23-years-old, Luiz Junior has made 120 top-flight appearances in Portugal and has shown undoubted potential.
Martinez is the undoubted number one at Villa Park and for Argentina, though, and Hutton – speaking to Villa News – thinks the signing would be with an eye on the future rather than anything untoward such as Martinez being sold.
“The goalkeepers that I’ve seen they’re a little bit younger but had good seasons, room to grow, they’ve good attributes for decent sums of money – it looked about £10-15m about that marker,” Hutton said.
“So it’s there to be as a number two, to maybe in the future if Martinez goes or to put pressure on him.
“We know how good Martinez has been so unless he was to leave that’s a different conversation but if he was to stay it’s just to be number two.
“Robin Olsen has done well but they need a better option and I think that’s what they’re looking to do at this moment in time.”
Emi Martinez going nowhere amid Aston Villa transfer links
Whenever players are linked with a move to a club there can always be a bit of trepidation that it means a sale is on the cards.
But in this case it would be take a huge sum for Villa to even contemplate cashing-in on Martinez and with Champions League football now on offer it seems even more unlikely.
The links to Luiz Junior seem more to indicate that Villa are looking for a bit more competition for the Argentina ace or looking to build him as a future number one.
Basically, if this one does happen, it seems to make sense all around and could be a shrewd bit of business.
In other Aston Villa news, an exit condition has been named for another ace at Villa Park.
For more Aston Villa news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.